Beloit College Magazine

You may have been in the audience that night in 1976, when Arlo Guthrie performed two unforgettable concerts in Eaton Chapel.

Now, the legendary singer/songwriter returns to Beloit for a repeat performance Tuesday, April 13, 2004.

The concert, part of Beloit’s International Performing Arts and Lectures Series, will be at 8 p.m. in the Flood Arena of the Sports Center. Admission is $15 and discounts are available for students and senior citizens. Call 608-363-2242 to purchase tickets.

The Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education at Beloit (CELEB) has moved into its newly renovated facility in nearby downtown this semester. With the first phase of renovations to buildings at 437 and 439 East Grand Ave. nearly complete, students will have a new physical space from which to headquarter entrepreneurial endeavors.

The two historic storefront buildings, now combined into one space of about 6,000 square feet on two floors, will provide a central location for students of all majors to launch serious venture plans of their own design, says Coleman Foundation Professor of Entrepreneurship Jerry Gustafson.

“Most of these ventures will be businesses. Nonprofit agencies and campus enterprises, if truly entrepreneurial, may qualify, too. They will have intentions of high achievement, which will set them apart from normal campus clubs,” says Gustafson.

The CELEB building includes office and meeting space with standard equipment for about six student start-ups per semester, an art gallery, and recording and television studios. The program places special emphasis on entrepreneurship as it applies to the fine arts and communication, hence the gallery and studios.

The Myers Institute for the Art of Business and Business of Art, funded by a generous grant from David Myers’49, is part of the center and includes a storefront art gallery managed by students. A recording studio and computerized suites for film and video editing, sound editing and effects, musical composition, computer art, and a cable access TV station round out the resources available for entrepreneurial ventures in communication.

“CELEB will provide opportunities for students to practice using technology and to acquire business skills that relate to self-employment in the arts,” says Gustafson.

Students are off to a strong start with respect to the gallery. Student managers Evan Thomas’06 and Aaron Bauhs’05 are already encouraging art submissions in any media from Beloit alumni. (Thomas can be reached at thomase@stu.beloit.edu for more details on submitting art).

A student-run research foundation will also set up its base at the center. This foundation will sponsor papers, student discussions, a speaker series, reading groups, and special projects that examine and support the question: What is Social Excellence? (WISE)

“The WISE Foundation will explore issues of the individual versus society, including the role of individual enterprise in serving the social good,” says Gustafson, adding that whenever possible, findings will be applied to improving the quality of social life on campus, while also serving as a counterbalance to the individualism that sometimes overtakes discussions of entrepreneurship.

Primary funding for the building was provided by the Chicago-based Coleman Foundation and David Myers. Furnishings were gifts from Scott Elias’73, of Elias Arts in New York, and the First National Bank of Beloit.

Gustafson, who directs all aspects of CELEB, says that the second phase of construction on the buildings will add an elevator and another 3,000 square feet through renovations to the third floor.

An article about Gustafson and entrepreneurship at Beloit appeared in the spring 2002 issue of Beloit College Magazine.

RELATED LINKS:

"Entrepreneurship Finds Fertile Ground at Beloit," Beloit College Magazine, spring 2002

Beloit College Department of Economics and Management home page

Jerry Gustafson - Professor of Economics and Management and Coleman Foundation Professor of Entrepreneurship

The College’s newest building has been named for a family with a history of extraordinary support for Beloit College.

The dedication of the townhouses as Moore Hall came during a celebration of Harry Moore’s life, held in Eaton Chapel on February 6.

Moore, a passionate supporter of Beloit and life trustee whose leadership spanned more than 50 years, died Aug. 31, 2003.

Many Moore Scholars — international and American students who attend Beloit through the Moore Family Scholarship program — were present when the announcement was made, as were members of the Moore family, including Harry Moore’s widow, Monique Moore.

Dr. Sudha Pavuluri’94, a Moore Scholar from 1990 to 1994, addressed the large crowd during the event. As a student, she recalled attending luncheons that the Moores hosted for the scholars, where she remembered Harry Moore showing a sincere interest in all that she and others were doing and planning.

Sometimes at these lunches, Moore would notice that a student needed something, like a new pair of glasses or boots, and later he would slip money to Dean of Students Bill Flanagan with directions to see that the student got it.

“I and the other Moore Scholars felt that we had somewhat of a reciprocal relationship with Harry Moore: He seemed so pleased to help us obtain a quality college education, and we felt privileged to represent him at this College,” she said.

Andy Davis’72, who chairs the board of trustees and followed Moore’s lead by establishing the McIvor Scholarships for South African students, talked about Moore as a mentor who demonstrated “how to give until it feels great.”

“Harry not only enjoyed giving of himself and his fortune,” Davis said, “he could also make you feel better about giving a million dollars than a lottery winner feels getting it!”

A commemorative column was unveiled after the celebration of Moore’s life. It displays the names and countries of students who have attended Beloit through the Moore family’s generosity. The column will be displayed in the Morse Library.

RELATED LINK:

Read the obituary for former trustee Harry Moore in the fall/winter 2003 issue of Beloit College Magazine.

When the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) became law in 1990, many museums feared their collections would disappear.

But that hasn’t been the case for the Logan Museum of Anthropology, which returned its first object last fall under the 14-year-old law: a headdress that was reclaimed by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska.

NAGPRA allows federally recognized tribes to repatriate, or reclaim, sacred objects, objects of cultural patrimony, funerary objects, and human remains. The law requires institutions receiving federal funds to summarize and inventory such cultural items and send this information to culturally affiliated tribes.

Tribal visits, often an important step in the NAGPRA process, have resulted in the sharing of information and the building of mutually beneficial partnerships between tribes and the Logan Museum. Two representatives of the Tlingit tribe visited the Logan Museum in January 2002 to examine the headdress firsthand.

Called Xoots Shakee.át in the Tlingit language, the headdress belongs to the Teikweidi (Brown Bear) clan of the Tlingit Indians. It consists of an ermine fur crown, decorated with sea-lion whiskers and feathers. The front of the headdress features a carved wooden plaque representing a bear, an eagle, and a frog, which is inlaid with abalone shell. The Logan Museum purchased the headdress in 1964; before that, it was in the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum’s collection.

Harold Jacobs, Tlingit cultural resource specialist, identified the headdress as a sacred object necessary for the practice of traditional ceremonial rites and an item of cultural patrimony, which means it is owned by the entire tribe, not any one individual.

The tribe submitted a NAGPRA claim shortly after they visited the museum. Logan Museum staff reviewed it, and College President John Burris granted final approval for the repatriation.

Negotiations for the object’s return to Alaska were finalized with an invitation to bring the headdress to the University of Northern Colorado for a repatriation ceremony, for which 20 Tlingit representatives traveled to Greeley, Colo., where a bear totem pole was also returned by UNC.

Nicolette Meister, curator of collections for the Logan Museum of Anthropology, brought the headdress to Colorado and took part in the ceremony, in which the Tlingit people shared songs and stories that spoke of the importance and meaning of the two objects. The Tlingit emphasized that the repatriation was history-in-the-making and that the three-hour ceremony helped breathe life back into the totem pole and the headdress, explains Meister. “At the ceremony’s conclusion, the headdress was used in a dance, completing its cycle from sacred object, to museum artifact, and back to living culture.”

RELATED LINK :

Logan Museum of Anthropology home page

Nicolette Meister - Curator of Collections, Logan Museum of Anthropology

When Associate Professor Rob LaFleur (history/anthropology) was asked to write a book about China as part of a series, he knew that some of his colleagues’scholarly interests could contribute greatly to the project. So he proposed this idea to his editor: The book could be a collaboration among Beloit faculty, with sections on Chinese language, economics, politics, and culture, in addition to what he would contribute on Chinese history and geography.

Now that China: A Global Studies Handbook is on the market, LaFleur says he only regrets that the format didn’t allow for coverage of religion, philosophy, literature, and mathematics—also subjects in which Beloit faculty members are scholars.

“It’s amazing to look across campus and see this enormous talent,” LaFleur says. “The book turned out to be a great compilation, and it doesn’t even begin to tap the expertise we have on China.”

Intended for the general reader and marketed primarily to libraries, the book is “intelligent but accessible,” says LaFleur, who asked colleagues to give readers a sense of their teaching spirit in introductory courses as they composed chapters. LaFleur adds that incorporating meaningful themes and adapting his own teaching of Chinese history into 20,000 words “was harder than anything I have ever done.”

Faculty authors kept two types of readers in mind as they wrote: high school students writing a serious report on a country about which they have little knowledge, and adults, with no specific knowledge of China, who are about to embark on a trip for business or pleasure. The result is an engaging introduction to the most important issues in China’s history, economy, politics, society, and language.

“The book assumes no previous knowledge of China, but it is written with the expectation that readers will be open to the challenges of learning about one of the world’s greatest civilizations,” says LaFleur.

Warren Palmer, assistant professor of economics and management and Mouat Junior Professor of International Studies, contributed a chapter on the Chinese economy and drafted a significant portion of the geography section; John Rapp, professor of political science, wrote a chapter on Chinese politics and government; Shin Yong Robson, adjunct associate professor of modern languages and literatures, contributed the text on Chinese language, food, and etiquette; and Tamara Hamlish, former associate professor of anthropology, wrote a chapter on Chinese society and culture.

LaFleur says he fought the idea that this is “just a reference book,” but instead strove to present serious scholarly work in a way that speaks to “intelligent nonspecialists.”

“This book really came out of our teaching, and we’ll find a way to bring it back to our teaching,” says LaFleur, adding that he hopes the hardcover eventually will be re-released in a lower-priced paper version.

The book is part of the Global Studies: Asia series (published by ABC-CLIO), which also includes volumes on Japan, the Koreas, Nepal and Bangladesh, and Vietnam.

Read an excerpt from China: A Global Studies Handbook (2003)

EMAIL:

Rob LaFleur - Associate Professor of History

City of Beloit resident Dan Weaver spent many years of his life indulging a passion for the history of his hometown. He collected historic photographs of Beloit’s bridges, buildings, parades, parks, sports teams, and notable people, and bought, traded, and clipped publications, newspaper stories, post cards, and other memorabilia covering about a century-and-a-half of the city’s history.

For years, Weaver stored this carefully organized material in the small office of his business, Dan’s Restaurant, with the overflow spilling into a shed outside. When the family sold the restaurant, they also decided to sell the collection. They approached Beloit (Dan and Melody’s daughter, Michelle, graduated in 1998), which recently acquired it in its entirety, including 350 fat binders, a few boxes of books and pamphlets, and large, framed photographs.

“The binders still have the faint smell of pancakes,” says College Archivist Fred Burwell’86, who is ecstatic about the acquisition, explaining that it fills many gaps in the Archives and will assist students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the public on projects relating to local history.

“In recent years, several classes have focused on Beloit history, including Bill New’s (associate professor of education) Local History class, in which students create a curriculum based on local history,” explains Burwell.

Burwell notes that the collection also promises to be helpful as Archives responds to the many requests it receives from the public about local history. Lately, an increasing number of these inquiries—many pertaining to genealogy—are coming to Archives via email.

Weaver meticulously organized the binders by subject matter. The topics cover everything imaginable related to the Beloit area, including businesses, railroads, churches, farms, the downtown, the African-American community, the Underground Railroad, and much more.

Burwell says there is wisdom in maintaining local history collections in more than one place in a community.

“When the First Congregational Church (at Bushnell St. and Park Ave.) burned down, its archives were destroyed,” he says. “We were able to provide them with much material, collected over the years by College archivists. It brought home to me the idea that, whenever possible, historical material should be saved in more than one location.”

Eventually, Burwell hopes to make some of the Weaver collection available on the Archives’ Web site, but, for now, the new items can be accessed by visiting the Archives in the lower level of the Morse Library, or by emailing questions to Burwell.

Beloit College Archives Web site

Fred Burwell - College Archivist

Beloit may be located thousands of miles from the Alaskan tundra, but apparently that didn’t stop famed naturalist John Muir from naming one of the many glaciers in Alaska after the College in the early 20th century. Muir had lived in Wisconsin for a number of years, and legend has it that he named a range of Alaskan glaciers after Wisconsin’s private colleges in honor of the state.

So it was with real excitement that Anna Goodwin’05 viewed the Beloit Glacier last summer. Goodwin, a native of Marinette, Wis., is majoring in anthropology and classics, and minoring in museum studies. She was in Alaska from the end of May through the middle of August, serving as an intern through the student conservation association and Americorps for the Bureau of Land Management in the Glenallen field office.

“I worked on an archaeology crew doing archaeological surveys,” she recalls. “This was my first trip to Alaska, and I had the time of my life.”

“I first heard of the Beloit Glacier from a coworker,” she explains, noting that the colleague was a native of Wisconsin. “He had led kayak trips to Blackstone Bay, where the Beloit Glacier is [located]. My friends and I were planning a kayak trip for one of our weeks off; I decided that Blackstone Bay would be a good trip.”

In late July, the group started out in Whittier, Alaska, and kayaked about 20 miles to reach Blackstone Bay—a trip that took them two days. Goodwin says that the ocean water was very cold, even though the days were sunny and air temperatures hovered in the 80s. “The water was cold enough that, if you were to fall in, getting dry and warm is crucial because you will get hypothermia within a few minutes,” she says.

Once the group made it to Blackstone Bay, Goodwin was able to get a good view of the geological formation named for her alma mater.

“My basic impression was of awe at its size,” Goodwin says. “The glacier looks like a huge waterfall, a river-like mass of ice. The Beloit Glacier is one of two in the bay which are actively calving, which means that the glacier flows right into the water and pieces of it regularly fall off.”

Goodwin and her fellow travelers were careful to follow safety guidelines as they toured the bay. “The general rule for kayakers is that you should stay a quarter of a mile away from glaciers,” she says. “Even from that distance, we were floating in water with bits of ice. When the glacier calved, it sounded like thunder. If a kayak is too close, the waves from the ice that falls in can cause the kayak to capsize.”

In the course of their trip, the kayakers also saw harbor seals, a sea lion, and sea otters. “One sea otter got very close without seeing us,” Goodwin says. “I said ‘hello’ to it, and it looked at us and dove under the water. The expression on its face was priceless.”

It required a good measure of skill and a dash or two of courage to compete in Beloit’s Iron Chef competition, held last fall as part of International Education Week.

Playing off the popular Japanese television show that airs on the Food Network, three student teams participated by preparing meals in front of their peers during dinner hour in Commons. The surprise required ingredient, sea scallops, proved a difficult challenge even for the more experienced cooks.

“I’m not that great at seafood,” said Nick Scheeler’04, an anthropology major from New Berlin, Wis., who competed in last year’s cook-off and plans to attend culinary school. Yet, he and his team managed to make a tasty sea scallop sashimi as part of their meal.

At tables amid the chatter of the dinner hour, the three-member teams focused on their tasks behind portable gas burners and with basic cookware, knives, and cutting boards as their tools. Aside from the sea scallops, students could choose staple food items and supplies either from a nearby table, or they could raid Commons’ kitchen for raw ingredients to incorporate into their meals. Several more exotic items, like Boursin cheese and canned snails, were supplied in plain view, offering even more of a spontaneous challenge. Organizer and assistant professor Greg Buchanan (psychology) seemed especially hopeful a brave team would use the canned snails, but none did.

Each team had one hour to put together a winning meal for three discerning judges: Buchanan, Peter Kraemer’89, the College’s executive chef, and Elizabeth Brewer, director of international education.

In the end, all three teams produced beautifully presented items including Thai stir fry, vegetables tempura, Asian scallop soup, and bruschetta. Their efforts drew a crowd of interested onlookers.

Team number three (shown above), consisting of Rebecca Noe’07 (Indianapolis, Ind.), Erik Nelson’07 (Racine, Wis.), and Matt Flynn’06 (Ridgefield, Conn.) took first-place honors in the competition.

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